Borumba Dam, Imbil....The Toga King at his finest

Eric with a 70cm plus Toga

Borumba
Dam lies about thirteen kilometres from the small town of Imbil, a
scenic drive through forestry and Hoop Pine plantations where its not
unusual to see red deer by the road side and late afternoon while
kayaking you may spot one drinking at waters edge. I'm fortunate to live
close by and find myself fishing the lake two or three times a week in
Toga season. It's a beautiful lake with large tree covered hills, lots
of under cover that grows right down to the water, steep banks where
lilly pads sit below over hanging trees, beautiful red bottle brush that
seem to grow right out of the water, its under these bottle brush that
some of my best Saratoga have been tempted.

An
easy paddle of around three and a half kilometres from ramp is the
junction of two creeks Yabba and Kingham both have their own beauty and
hold some large Toga. Fishing the edge of weed beds before sun up then
moving closer to the bank as the sun gets high, picking the shady trees
and around lily pads is my favorite way to fish for Saratoga. If you
ask ten fishermen you will get ten different answers, I find Saratoga
will take most surface lures fly and some soft plastics if conditions
are right. I consider it more important to have a feel for where Toga
would lay rather then decide what expensive lure to buy.With
breeding season over and hot weather the larger fish are out and
hungry. So an early session was in order, launching at four thirty in
the morning, wind was but a breath, the water was warm to touch and a
humid weedy smell hung over the dam. Perfect conditions for Toga I
thought, it was after daylight when I reached my first location starting
with surface lures and getting some big hits I changed to a soft
plastic in red and had instant hook up a beautiful Saratoga around
seventy four centimetres. Satisfied with my first fish of the day. I
stopped for a nice cup of tea and time to reflect on how fortunate I
was. There were three other spots I planned to fish today, also to try
out a fly that i made using bits from my wife's sewing basket as I often
raid it when she is not in the room.So
back on the water...when moving into a new spot I like to sit quiet for
a while watching the surface for any sign, and there it was, in the
shade of a large bottle brush. I chose a popper again, I like poppers
with a heavy bum that way when I pop them a short spurt they drop back
in the same spot almost and I can keep my lure in the shade longer.
After several good hits and some lure changes I decided to try my large
fly ....the "Lantana Frog"The
beauty of kayak fishing is just how close you can get to your target
area. I'm able to put fly on a light braid and with the help of a short
heavy leader I can cast the small distance to my target. In this case a
mere five metres, it hit the surface and had a follow and a nudge. The
next cast I saw my fly quietly taken without a splash, then this mighty
freshwater fighter put on quiet a show, dancing on water trying to shake
my hook. After a strong fight he kindly allowed me to land another
beautiful Saratoga this being a little smaller at seventy centimetres.The
morning session saw two fine Saratoga landed and a third one less then
forty centimetres and a by catch of two small bass that fell in love
with my popper. I rarely target Bass while on Borumba Dam instead
concentrating only on the Toga.